NASA’s Johnson Space Center has finally unveiled Valkyrie, its “superhero robot” entry to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials, which take place on December 20 in Florida. Valkyrie will compete against fellow humanoid robots, such as Atlas, on a series of eight physical tasks to test the dexterity and autonomy of the robots, with the chance of going forward to the DRC Finals in 2014, where it could win $2 million from the US government. The DRC isn’t about money, though: It’s all about accelerating humanity’s development of advanced humanoid robots, for use in hazardous situations… such as war.

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